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10.1126/sciadv.1400035
FUNCTIONAL CARBONS
Gelatin-derived sustainable carbon-based
functional materials for energy conversion and
storage with controllability of structure and component
Zhong-Li Wang,1 Dan Xu,1 Hai-Xia Zhong,1,2 Jun Wang,1,2 Fan-Lu Meng,1 Xin-Bo Zhang1*
Nonprecious carbon catalysts and electrodes are vital components in energy conversion and storage systems.
Despite recent progress, controllable synthesis of carbon functional materials is still a great challenge. We report a novel strategy to prepare simultaneously Fe-N-C catalysts and Fe3O4/N-doped carbon hybrids based on
the sol-gel chemistry of gelatin and iron with controllability of structure and component. The catalysts demonstrate higher catalytic activity and better durability for oxygen reduction than precious Pt/C catalysts. The
active sites of FeN4/C (D1) and N-FeN2+2/C (D3) are identified by Mössbauer spectroscopy, and most of the Fe
ions are converted into D1 or D3 species. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity correlates well with the
surface area, porosity, and the content of active Fe-Nx/C (D1 + D3) species. As an anode material for lithium
storage, Fe3O4/carbon hybrids exhibit superior rate capability and excellent cycling performance. The synthetic
approach and the proposed mechanism open new avenues for the development of sustainable carbon-based
functional materials.
INTRODUCTION
Increasing energy demands have stimulated intense research on
alternative energy conversion and storage systems with high efficiency, low cost, and environmental benignity. In this important field,
electrochemistry provides a bridge for efficient inter-transfer of chemical to electrical energy, such as fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and lithium ion batteries (LIBs) (1–4). However, polarization due to the
oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) still contributes significantly to
the energy efficiency of fuel cells and metal-air batteries because of
the exceptionally high O=O bond energy and the sluggish nature of
ORR. Pt or its alloys are the best known ORR catalysts, but their applications are limited by the high cost and declining activity (5–8). To
overcome this problem, alternative catalysts based on nonprecious
metals materials have been actively pursued (9–15). On the other
hand, rechargeable LIBs are key devices for electricity storage and supply. The main challenge in this field is achieving high capacity, excellent cycling performance, and rate capability for both anode and
cathode materials to meet the growing power supply requirements
for a variety of applications, including portable electronics, electric vehicles, and renewable energy storage (16–21).
Carbon-based functional materials represent the most investigated
ORR catalysts and electrode materials for the energy conversion and
storage because they not only exhibit excellent electrochemical activity
but also have other advantages, including low costs, long durability,
and environmental friendliness (22–28). Typically, transition metalcoordinating N/C materials are one of the most promising nonprecious metal catalysts (NPMCs) for the ORR. The traditional method
for preparing metal-N-C NPMCs involves direct pyrolysis of the mixture of nitrogen, carbon, and transition metal precursors. N-containing
polymers are often adopted as nitrogen and carbon sources in the
1
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied
Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, P. R. China. 2University of
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: xbzhang@ciac.ac.cn
Wang et al. Sci. Adv. 2015;1:e1400035
27 February 2015
preparation of non-noble ORR catalysts. For example, polyaniline,
polypyrrole, polyacrylonitrile, polydopamine, polydiaminopyridine,
polybenzimidazole, and commercial melamine foam have been investigated to construct Fe/Co-N-C catalysts (29–36). However, the
physical mixing of polymers and metal salts frequently fails in controlling the uniform distribution of different components because of
their bad compatibility, thus leading to the agglomeration of the
metal particles and the microstructural inhomogeneity of these
NPMCs (33). The interactions between different components determine the intrinsic nature of active sites. A homogeneous polymer/metal
system is very crucial for preparation of high-performance metal-N-C
catalysts and is also vitally important for preparation of carbon/metal
oxide composite electrode materials. Although polymers derived from
transition metal macrocyclic compounds are effective precursors to
alleviate the inhomogeneity, these compounds are generally expensive
(37–39), even comparable to Pt/C catalysts, which significantly hinders
their scalable production. Therefore, how to realize the homogeneous
composite system of polymer and transition metal but limit the cost at
the same time remains a challenging task for the catalysts and electrode materials.
In this paper, we demonstrate a novel strategy to construct the
homogeneous metal/N-containing polymer composite based on the
sol-gel chemistry of sustainable gelatin biomolecule and iron nitrate.
Gelatin is an animal derivative composed of various proteins with a high
average molecular weight (ca. 50,000 to 80,000), which have an average
nitrogen content of 16%. Gelatin is produced by partial hydrolysis of
collagens that are generally extracted from the boiled bones and connective tissues of animals (40, 41). It is highly economical because it is a naturally abundant and sustainable resource with a high solubility in polar
solvents, and thus could be a promising precursor for nitrogen-doped
carbons. Herein, we apply the high compatibility and coordinating capability of carboxyl and amide groups in gelatin with metal ions and realize
the uniform distribution of metal particles in the carbon precursor during
the sol-gel process. It is well known that the sol-gel process has the potential
advantage for achieving homogeneous mixing of the components on
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atomic scale (42–44). Furthermore, the gas template of ammonium nitrate
is successfully introduced in the gelatin-metal frameworks without affecting
the homogeneity, and it enlarges the surface area of the carbon catalysts
nearly six times. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of structure and
component, these iron-nitrogen–doped porous carbons display an
outstanding catalytic performance toward the ORR in alkaline media,
superior to precious platinum-carbon (Pt/C) catalysts. Moreover,
these novel catalysts can mediate the ORR process in acidic media with
excellent activity comparable with Pt/C. The active sites of FeN4/C (D1)
and N-FeN2+2/C (D3) are identified by Mössbauer spectroscopy, and
the relative content of D1 + D3 sites is up to 67.6% in all the Fe species, indicating that most of Fe ions are converted into active sites. It
should be noted that this strategy can produce not only highly active
Fe-N-C catalysts but also high-performance Fe3O4/N-doped carbon
hybrid electrode materials for LIBs with excellent capacity and rate
capabilities. To our knowledge, sustainable development of highperformance Fe-N-C catalysts and iron oxide/carbon hybrid materials
from economical metal-gelated gelatin biomolecule with controllability of structure and component has never been reported.
RESULTS
Synthesis analysis of carbon-based ORR catalysts from
gelatin biomolecule
The overall synthetic procedure for the Fe-N-C catalyst is presented in
Fig. 1 and in fig. S1. The precursor solution is first prepared by dissolving gelatin, iron nitrate, and ammonium nitrate (fig. S1A). The
obvious interaction between iron cation and gelatin is demonstrated
by UV-visible spectroscopy (fig. S2). During the thermal treatment at
80°C for 24 hours, the solvent of water gradually evaporates, and complexed iron ions gradually hydrolyze into amorphous ferric hydroxide,
accompanying the decomposition of nitrate ions and a big volume
expansion as shown in fig. S1B. The mass of final gel is found to equal
the total mass of gelatin, ferric hydroxide, and ammonium nitrate,
which indicates that ammonium nitrate does not change during
the sol-gel process and that it uniformly dispersed in the composite
gel with the evaporation of water (fig. S3). In the comparable experiments, it is found that the introduction of iron nitrate in the gelatin
solution is the crucial premise for the sol-gel process owing to the interaction between metal ions and gelatin (figs. S4 to S6). After hightemperature treatment, the homogeneous composite gel is converted
into Fe-N-C catalyst with homogeneous distribution of nitrogen, iron,
and carbon. A large amount of micropores and mesopores are produced
during the decomposition of ammonium nitrate, leading to a high
surface area of Fe-N-C catalyst (fig. S7).
Morphology and structure analysis of carbon-based
ORR catalysts
For Fe-N-C catalyst, Fe3O4/carbon composite is the intermediate
product as shown in Fig. 2A. It can be seen that Fe3O4 nanoparticles
are uniformly dispersed in the N-doped carbon matrix, identifying the
homogeneity of the components. After leaching the iron oxide particles, foam structure can be observed with the formation of large
amounts of pores (Fig. 2B). Therefore, iron oxide not only provides
iron resource for the Fe-N-C active sites but also acts as a second template for producing porous structure. From the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of Fig. 2C, dense micropores
in the carbon matrix can be clearly observed because of the release of
gas template, which provides large catalytic active area. As a comparison, four types of samples are prepared with different precursor components under the same conditions (IAG-C: iron nitrate, ammonium
nitrate, and gelatin; AG-C: ammonium nitrate and gelatin; IG-C: iron
nitrate and gelatin; and G-C: pure gelatin). From the TEM images of
fig. S8, it can be observed that the later three samples have different
porous structures compared to IAG-C. Without iron nitrate and ammonium nitrate, the N-doped carbon from pure gelatin has almost no
porous structure. In contrast, with addition of iron nitrate or ammonium nitrate, both the samples of AG-C and IG-C have a large amount
of micropores. Figure 2D shows the N2 adsorption-desorption curves
of four samples. The surface areas are 1215.4, 725.3, 598.8, and 189.8 m2 g−1
for samples IAG-C, AG-C, IG-C, and G-C (table S1), respectively, which
is in accordance with the microstructure as discussed above. With the
ammonium nitrate as template, the samples IAG-C and AG-C have two
kinds of pores: mesopores (4 nm) and micropores (<2 nm), whereas
with iron nitrate as template, there is only the micropores produced
for IG-C, indicating different component plays different roles (fig. S8D).
Therefore, proper combination of iron nitrate and ammonium nitrate
Fig. 1. Illustration of the preparation procedure of IAG-C catalysts and Fe3O4@AGC electrode materials.
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enhance the activity. The introduction of
Fe ions into the gelatin for sample IG-C results in superior efficiency compared to sample AG-C; even the latter has a higher surface
area than the former, indicating that the formation of Fe-Nx active sites plays more
important roles (45). When combining the
two advantages in one sample (IAG-C),
the ORR activity is greatly enhanced owing
to the synergetic effect of large surface
area, hierarchical porous structure, and
highly active components. The sample
IAG-C exhibits super advantages compared to other non-noble catalysts (table
S2). The effect of carbonization temperature on the catalytic activity is also investigated, and Fe-N-C catalyst obtained at
900°C is demonstrated to show the highest
activity (fig. S10A). To assess the role of
iron, the ORR is measured in cyanide ion
(CN−)–containing KOH electrolyte. The
half-wave potential of the catalyst is found
to decrease significantly by 108 mV with
the decrease of diffusion-limiting current,
suggesting the formation of Fe-Nx complexes (fig. S11A). After thoroughly washing the catalysts to remove bound CN−,
the as-prepared Fe-N-C catalysts can recover most of its lost current, showing
the similar ORR activity as before CN−
poisoning
(fig. S11B), which indicates
Fig. 2. (A) TEM image of intermediate Fe3O4/carbon composite produced at 350°C. (B and C) TEM
that
the
catalytically
active sites may
and HRTEM images of IAG-C catalyst. (D) Nitrogen adsorption-desorption curves of four samples
be iron macrocycle complexes, such as
prepared with different precursors.
semimacrocyclic-like and macrocyclic
structures (46, 47).
The four-electron selectivity of as-prepared catalysts and Pt/C is
has the synergetic effect on producing such high surface area and hierarchical porous structure. Raman spectra and x-ray diffraction (XRD) investigated by Koutecky-Levich (K-L) plots at several potentials. The
patterns indicate that the amorphous and defect carbon structure in- K-L plots of IAG-C (Fig. 3C) show good linearity at all potentials and
creases with the increase of the surface area from samples G-C to the electron transfer number n is ca. 3.9 to 4.0 even under high potential
similar to that of the Pt/C, suggesting that the ORR of IAG-C follows a
IAG-C (fig. S9).
direct four-electron route. In contrast, the n is only around 2 for G-C
(fig. S10B). The H2O2 yield from the rotating ring-disk electrode
Electrochemical properties of carbon-based ORR catalysts
The electrocatalytic activity of prepared carbons is first evaluated by (RRDE) measurements is below 10% for IAG-C in the potential range
cyclic voltammetry (CV). The onset potential of IAG-C is 1.04 V versus of 0.15 to 0.85 V, and the corresponding electron transfer number is
reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH so- similar as those derived from K-L plots (fig. S12). The outstanding
lution, which is 30 mV more positive than that of commercial Pt/C ORR catalytic activity of IAG-C is further confirmed by the smaller Tafel
(Fig. 3A). The IAG-C also exhibits a marked oxygen reduction peak slope of 58 mV per decade at low overpotentials compared with that
at 0.89 V, superior to Pt/C. In the rotating disk electrode (RDE) experi- of Pt/C (63 mV per decade, Fig. 3D). Under the same mass of catalysts
ments (Fig. 3B), the onset potentials of IAG-C and Pt/C are similar at (0.3 mg cm−2), the exchange current density (Jo) is obtained from the
around 1.02 V, close to that identified from CV measurement, but IAG-C linear region of the Tafel plot by extrapolating the line (48). The
exhibits a higher current density and a more positive half-wave potential, calculated Jo for IAG-C and Pt/C is 1.5 × 10−8 and 1.3 × 10−8 A cm−2, reindicating more active performance than Pt/C. To gain insight into the spectively, further reflecting the excellent activity of as-prepared Fe-N-C
production of such high activity, we carried out comparable measure- catalysts. For the crossover effect of methanol, Pt/C exhibits a marked
ments for samples AG-C, IG-C, and G-C. As shown in Fig. 3B, G-C has current decrease immediately after the injection of methanol, indicating
no obvious ORR current until a very high overpotential is applied, the occurrence of methanol oxidation reaction, whereas no noticeable
whereas for AG-C, the high ORR onset potential and a well-defined change is observed in the ORR current for IAG-C (Fig. 3E). The results
diffusion-limited current can be observed, which implies that adding demonstrate that IAG-C has considerably better tolerance to methanol
ammonium nitrate in the gel to increase the surface area can greatly crossover than does Pt/C. Stability is another important aspect of fuel
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Fig. 3. (A) CVs of Pt/C, G-C, and IAG-C in 0.1 M KOH at 5 mV s−1. (B) LSV
curves for G-C, AG-C, IG-C, IAG-C, and Pt/C in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH at
5 mV s−1 at 1600 revolutions per minute (rpm). (C) LSV curves for IAG-C at
different rotation rates in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH at 5 mV s−1; inset
shows the K-L plots. (D) Tafel plots of IAG-C and Pt/C for ORR derived
by the mass-transport correction of corresponding RDE data. (E) Chronoamperometric response of IAG-C and Pt/C in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH
followed by addition of 3 M methanol. (F) Chronoamperometric response of IAG-C and Pt/C in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH solution at 0.65 V at
1600 rpm.
cell catalysts that needs consideration. The chronoamperometric measurements of IAG-C at a constant voltage of 0.65 V displayed only a
7% decrease of current density over 20,000 s, whereas the current of
Pt/C decreased by 19% during the same operation (Fig. 3F). This catalyst
still keeps high activity after 3 months in air (fig. S10C). Besides being
active in alkaline medium, IAG-C catalyst is also found to be an effective
ORR catalyst in acidic media with 4e selectivity and, at the same time,
shows a much better stability than the Pt/C electrode (figs. S13 and S14).
Unraveling the correlations of structure-component-activity
To clarify the origin of the enhanced ORR performance of gelatinderived Fe-N-C catalysts, we characterize the samples by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. The
nitrogen content of the four samples is very close, in the range of
3.6 to 4.3 at% (table S1). Inductively coupled plasma optical emission
spectrometry reveals an iron content of 0.12 to 0.14 at% in the final
products. The high-resolution N1s spectra of all catalysts are fitted
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with two different signals having binding energies of 398.7 and 400.9 eV,
corresponding to pyridinic N and graphitic N (Fig. 4A), respectively,
which are generally believed to participate in the active sites (33). The
relative content of pyridinic N gradually increases from G-C to IAG-C,
whereas that of the graphitic N decreases (Fig. 4B). The large surface
area and rich porosity for IAG-C lead to more exposed edge sides with
pyridinic N than that for G-C, which will facilitate the formation of co-
ordinating Fe-N active sites (45). Elemental mapping is used to confirm
the elemental distribution in the Fe-N-C sample (fig. S15). Uniform distributions of C, N, and Fe throughout the whole sample of IAG-C are
detected in the mapping analysis. After stability test, the elemental
distribution is still similar to the initial state (fig. S16), and the content
of Fe ions remains almost unchanged, reflecting the stability of chemical
structure in IAG-C catalyst.
Fig. 4. (A and B) N 1s XPS spectra (A) and the relative content of pyridinic and graphitic N (B) in the four samples prepared with different precursors.
(C and D) Mössbauer spectra for IG-C and IAG-C. (E) Relative content of D1, D2, and D3 sites in all the Fe species for both Fe-containing catalysts.
(F) Possible structure model of IAG-C.
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57
Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy is a sensitive tool for characterizing iron-containing
compounds and can be used to correlate
the ORR activity with the amount of Fe-Nx
centers (49–51). The Mössbauer spectra of
IG-C and IAG-C are shown in Fig. 4, C
and D. The spectra can be fitted with singlet, doublet, and sextet lines. Table S3
lists their assignments, with the proportions
of different Fe species according to the peak
areas. Except for little inactive superparamagnetic iron, a-Fe, and iron carbide, most
species in the Mössbauer spectra correspond
to the three doublets assigned to molecular
FeN4-like sites with their ferrous ions in low
(D1), intermediate (D2), or high (D3) spin
states. As well known, D1 sites with S = 0
and an empty 3dz2 orbital and D3 sites with
S = 2 and a 3dz2 orbital occupied by a single electron are able to bind oxygen to their
FeII ions in the end-on adsorption mode,
which initiates the reduction of oxygen (50).
In contrast, D2 sites with the intermediate
spin state (S = 1) and a completely filled
3dz2 orbital prevent the end-on adsorption
of molecular oxygen, leading to the lack of
ORR-activity. From the spectra, it can be Fig. 5. (A and B) TEM (A) and HRTEM (B) images of Fe3O4@AGC electrode material. (C and D) Comparison of rate capabilities (C) and cycle performance (D) of Fe3O4@AGC and bare Fe3O4.
seen that the iron species are similar for
both catalysts, but their relative contents
are different (Fig. 4E). As expected, the sample IAG-C has a much higher content (67.6%) of D1 + D3 active sites of Fe3O4@AGC is also superior to that of bare Fe3O4 particles (Fig. 5D).
compared to IG-C with the content of 55.8%, in accordance with their Although the initial capacities of both samples are similar, the gap
different ORR activity. This result is also consistent with XPS analysis of retentions is great. After 150 cycles at 500 mA g−1, the capacity of
that the larger surface area and porosity for IAG-C produce more ex- Fe3O4@AGC (660 mAh g−1) is four times more than that of bare Fe3O4
posed edge-side pyridinic N ligands, which then leads to more active particles (150 mAh g−1). Although the performance of Fe3O4@AGC
Fe-N4/C sites. On the basis of all the analysis, the possible structure is similar to that of complex Fe3O4/graphene composites (18, 20, 52),
model of IAG-C is proposed in Fig. 4F.
the preparation method of the former is more facile and sustainable
than that of the latter, which makes Fe3O4@AGC more favorable for
Lithium storage performance of iron oxide–carbon hybrids large-scale applications.
Besides the highly active Fe-N-C catalysts, the sol-gel strategy of gelatin can also produce excellent Fe3O4/N-doped carbon hybrids for
LIBs. Figure 5A shows the as-prepared Fe3O4/N-doped carbon hy- DISCUSSION
brid (Fe3O4@AGC) from the composite gel after high-temperature
treatment. It can be observed that Fe3O4 nanoparticles are uniformly In summary, we have reported a novel strategy to simultaneously preconfined in three-dimensional frameworks. The high-resolution pare nonprecious Fe-N-C catalysts and Fe3O4/N-doped carbon hyTEM image in Fig. 5B shows the interfacial structure between carbon brids on the basis of the sol-gel chemistry of economical gelatin and
matrix and the Fe3 O 4 particle. Thermogravimetric analysis of iron. The surface area, porosity, and active component can be controlled
Fe3O4@AGC reveals that the weight fraction of Fe3O4 in the com- by different precursors and treatments. After optimization of strucposites is 78%. It is noted that, keeping the hybrid structure, the con- ture, most of Fe ions are converted into active Fe-N4/C species. The
tent of Fe3O4 can be variable from 70 to 94% by adjusting the ratio of Fe-N-C catalysts exhibit a more positive half-wave potential, a high
metal salt and gelatin as shown in figs. S17 and S18. As anode ma- and stable limiting current, excellent stability for oxygen reduction
terials of LIBs, Fe3O4@AGC manifests an exceptionally high rate compared to precious Pt/C catalysts. As anode materials for LIBs,
capability compared with bare Fe3O4 (Fig. 5C). For example, at a cur- Fe3O4/carbon hybrids solve the structural integrity and electrical conrent density of 5000 mA g−1, Fe3O4@AGC still delivers a favorable ductivity of pure Fe3O4 and greatly improve the rate capability and
capacity of 260 mAh g−1, whereas bare Fe3O4 only exhibits a ca- cycling performance. The synthetic approach and the proposed mechapacity of 45 mAh g−1. Moreover, when the current rate is returned nism open new avenues for the sustainable development of carbon-based
to 100 mA g−1, the stable high capacity of Fe3O4@AGC (820 mAh g−1) catalysts and electrode materials for fuel cells, batteries, supercapais resumed. Except for the rate capability, the cycling performance citors, and other energy conversion and storage systems.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS
Synthesis of catalysts and electrode materials
In a typical process, 1.616 g of Fe(NO3)3 ·9H2O (4 mmol) and 3.6 g of
NH4NO3 were dissolved in 20 ml of H2O, and then 2 g of gelatin was
added under stirring at 80°C. When the gelatin was dissolved completely, the formed scarlet and viscous precursor solution was poured
into the evaporating dish. After gelation at 80°C for 24 hours, dry xerogel was obtained and used as common raw material for catalysts and
electrode materials. For the synthesis of catalysts, the xerogel was first
calcined in N2 at 350°C for 2 hours and then washed with 1 M HCl.
Subsequently, the product was calcined at 900°C for 2 hours in N2 and
washed again with 0.1 M HCl. The final product was obtained after a
second heat treatment at 900°C in N2. For comparison, four types of
samples were prepared with different precursor components under
the same conditions (sample IAG-C: iron nitrate, ammonium nitrate,
and gelatin; sample IG-C: iron nitrate and gelatin; sample AG-C: ammonium nitrate and gelatin; and sample G-C: pure gelatin). For AG-C
and G-C, second heat treatment was not necessary because of the absence of iron.
The synthesis of electrode materials was relatively simple. The
Fe3O4/N-doped carbon hybrid was obtained by calcining the xerogel
in N2 at 650°C for 2 hours. The content of Fe3O4 in the hybrid could be
adjusted by varying the amount of Fe(NO3)3 ·9H2O. The amount of
2.02 g (5 mmol) corresponds to the sample of Fe3O4@AGC, and the
amounts of 1.616 g (4 mmol) and 2.424 g (6 mmol) correspond to
Fe3O4@AGC-4 and Fe3O4@AGC-6, respectively.
Electrocatalysis measurements
Electrochemical characterizations were performed on a VMP3 electrochemical workstation (Bio-Logic Inc.) with a three-electrode system. A
glassy carbon electrode of 5.6 mm in diameter was used as the working
electrode, a Pt foil as the counter electrode, and a saturated Ag/AgCl
electrode as the reference electrode. For electrode preparation, 5 mg
of sample catalyst and 30 ml of Nafion (5 wt %) solution were first homogeneously dispersed in 1 ml of 2:1 (v/v) water/isopropanol mixed
solvent by sonication for at least 30 min. Next, 15 ml of the catalyst
ink was loaded onto the glassy carbon electrode. Commercial Pt/C
(20% platinum supported on Vulcan XC-72R carbon from Johnson
Matthey) electrode was prepared by the same procedure. Catalyst
loading for all samples, including Pt/C, was 0.3 mg cm−2. KOH (0.1 M)
was saturated with O2 by bubbling oxygen for 20 min before testing. For
CV measurements, the working electrode was cycled between −1.0 and
0.2 V at a scan rate of 100–5 mV s−1 with continuous O2 flow. For control experiments in Ar-saturated KOH, switching O2 to Ar and the other
procedures remain unchanged. RDE measurements were conducted at
different rotating speeds from 400 to 2025 rpm at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1.
K-L plots were analyzed at various potentials to determine the number
of electrons transferred based on the K-L equation:
1
1
1
1
1
¼ þ
¼
þ
J JL JK Bo1=2 JK
2=3
B ¼ 0:20nFC0 D0 n−1=6
where J and JK are the measured and kinetic-limiting current densities, o is the rotation speed, n is transferred electron number, F is the
Faraday constant (F = 96485 C mol−1), D0 is the diffusion coefficient
Wang et al. Sci. Adv. 2015;1:e1400035
27 February 2015
of O2 (1.9 × 10−5 cm2 s−1), n is the kinematic viscosity (n = 0.01 cm2 s−1),
and C0 is the concentration of O2 in the solution (1.2 × 10−6 mol cm−3).
The constant 0.2 is adopted when rotation speed is expressed in rpm.
For the RRDE test, the disk potential was scanned at 5 mV s−1, whereas
the ring electrode was held at 1.2 V versus RHE. All the ORR currents
presented in the figures are Faradaic currents, that is, after correction for
the capacitive current. For Tafel plots, the kinetic current was determined after mass-transport correction of RDE curves by
JK ¼
J JL
JL − J
The following equations were used to calculate n (the apparent
number of electrons transferred during ORR) and %H2O2 (the percentage of H2O2 released during ORR):
n¼
4ID
ID þ ðIR =N Þ
%H2 O2 ¼ 200 IR =N
ID þ ðIR =N Þ
Lithium storage measurement
The positive electrodes were fabricated by mixing 80 wt % active materials, 10 wt % acetylene black, and 10 wt % polyvinylidene difluoride
binder in appropriate amount of NMP as solvent. Then the resulting
paste was spread on a Cu foil by Automatic Film Coater with Vacuum
Pump & Micrometer Doctor Blade (MTI). After the NMP solvent
evaporation in a vacuum oven at 120°C for 12 hours, the electrodes were
pressed and cut into disks. A CR2032 coin-type cell was assembled with
lithium metal as the counter and reference electrode and polypropylene
film as a separator. The cells were constructed and handled in an argonfilled glovebox. The charge-discharge measurements were carried out
using the Land battery system (CT2001A) at a constant current density
in a voltage range of 0.01 to 3 V versus Li/Li+. The capacity is based on
the total mass of hybrid.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
Supplementary material for this article is available at http://advances.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/
full/1/1/e1400035/DC1
Materials and Methods
Fig. S1. Photographs of precursor solution (A), composite gel (B), and the final catalyst (C).
Fig. S2. Comparison of photographs and UV-visible spectroscopy of different solutions.
Fig. S3. (A) SEM image of composite gel after sol-gel; (B to E) mapping analysis of the composite
gel: (B) C element from gelatin, (C) N and (D) O elements from gelatin and ammonium nitrate,
and (E) Fe element from iron ferric hydroxide.
Fig. S4. Comparison of the products derived from different precursor solution containing different
components at the same treatment conditions: (A) only gelatin; (B) gelatin and ammonium nitrate;
and (C) gelatin and iron nitrate.
Fig. S5. Comparison of gels obtained by using cobalt nitrate (A) and nickel nitrate (B) as metal
salts with the same treatment conditions of iron nitrate.
Fig. S6. (A) FT-IR spectra, (B) N 1s spectra, and (C) XRD patterns of gelatin, amorphous Fe(OH)3,
and gelatin-Fe(OH)3 gel.
Fig. S7. (A) SEM image of composite gel after sol-gel; (B) SEM image and (C) XRD pattern of the
product obtained by calcining the gel at 350°C; (D) TEM image of the above HCl-washed product.
Fig. S8. TEM images of AG-C (A), IG-C (B), and G-C (C); (D) pore size distributions of four
samples prepared with different precursors.
Fig. S9. Raman spectra (A) and ID/IG ratio (B) of four samples prepared with different precursors. (C) Comparison of XRD patterns of IAG-C and G-C.
Fig. S10. (A) Temperature effect of IAG-C activity for ORR; (B) comparison of the electron transfer number of catalysts at 0.65 V; (C) stability of IAG-C after 3 months in air.
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Fig. S11. LSV curves of IAG-C before and after adding KCN in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH at 1600 rpm:
(A) 10 mM KCN and (B) 50 mM KCN. The green line is the LSV curve after CN− poisoning tests,
electrode washing, and immersion in fresh 0.1 M KOH for IAG-C.
Fig. S12. LSV curves at different rotation rates in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH at 5 mV s−1, and the
inset shows the corresponding K-L plots: (A) G-C, (B) AG-C, (C) IG-C, and (D) Pt/C; (E) electron
transfer number (n) and (F) peroxide yield of G-C, AG-C, IG-C, IAG-C, and commercial 20 wt %
Pt/C in O2-saturated 0.1 M KOH.
Fig. S13. (A) Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) curves for G-C, AG-C, IG-C, IAG-C, and Pt/C in
O2-saturated 0.1 M HClO4 at 5 mV s−1 at 1600 rpm; LSV curves for IAG-C (B) and Pt/C (C) at
different rotation rates in O2-saturated 0.1 M HClO4 at 5 mV s−1, and the inset shows the K-L
plots.
Fig. S14. (A) Electron transfer number and (B) peroxide yield (n) of G-C, AG-C, IG-C, IAG-C,
and commercial 20 wt % Pt/C in O2-saturated 0.1 M HClO4; (C) chronoamperometric response
of IAG-C and Pt/C in O2-saturated 0.1 M HClO4 followed by addition of 3 M methanol; (D)
chronoamperometric response of IAG-C and Pt/C in O2-saturated 0.1M HClO4 solution at 0.5 V
(versus RHE) at 1600 rpm.
Fig. S15. (A) High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)
image of the IAG-C catalyst; (B) C-, (C) N-, (D) O-, and (E) Fe-elemental mapping of the square
region.
Fig. S16. (A) High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)
image of the IAG-C catalyst; (B) C-, (C) N-, (D) O-, and (E) Fe-elemental mapping of the square
region after stability test. (F) N 1s XPS spectra of IAG-C after stability test.
Fig. S17. TEM images of Fe3O4@AGC with different content of Fe3O4 in the hybrids: (A)
Fe3O4@AGC-4, (B) Fe3O4@AGC, and (C) Fe3O4@AGC-6; (D) TG curves of the three hybrids to
determine the content of carbon; (E) XRD patterns of three hybrids. The diffraction peaks of
the composites are perfectly indexed to pure-phase Fe3O4 (JCPDS No.65-3107).
Fig. S18 Charge-discharge curves of Fe3O4@AGC (A), bare Fe3O4 (B), and AGC (C) at a current
density of 100 mA g−1; (D) Nyquist plots for the Fe3O4@AGC and bare Fe3O4-based cells with
lithium metal as counter electrode.
Fig. S19. The calibration CV curves of Ag/AgCl electrode (A) in 0.1 M KOH and (B) in 0.1 M
HClO4 with respect to RHE.
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Funding: This work is financially supported by 100 Talents Programme of Chinese Academy
of Sciences, National Program on Key Basic Research Project of China (973 Program, grant
nos. 2012CB215500 and 2014CB932300), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant
nos. 21422108, 21271168, 51472232, and 21471146), and The Jilin Province Science and Technology
Development Program (grant nos. 20140101116JC and 20150520008JH). Author contributions:
X.-B.Z and Z.-L.W. developed the concept, designed the experiments, and wrote the manuscript.
Z.-L.W., D.X., H.-X.Z., J.W., and F.-L.M. carried out the experiments. X.-B.Z., Z.-L.W., D.X., H.-X.Z., J.W.,
and F.-L.M. performed the analysis and wrote the manuscript.
Submitted 15 October 2014
Accepted 13 January 2015
Published 27 February 2015
10.1126/sciadv.1400035
Citation: Z.-L. Wang et al., Gelatin-derived sustainable carbon-based functional materials for
energy conversion and storage with controllability of structure and component. Sci. Adv. 1,
e1400035 (2015).
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